video: rockforward faves

VIDEO REWIND: The Cars – "Bye Bye Love " (Live)

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Power-pop brilliance.  The Cars excelled with smoldering, dark “Moving in Stereo”- type songs, and with killer chorus, blueprint-for-New Wave pop candy.  I love that this is live,  and really, really good, in a not-so-perfect way.  Harmonies, the late Benjamin Orr on bass reminding that Ric Ocasek wasn’t he only lead singer, and the great eight-bar solos from Elliott Easton on the guitar.  The Cars were best loved on record, and I have never talked to anyone who loved their shows in the 80’s.  But back in the late 1970’s, after the debut album, they were still nicely raw.

VIDEO: Truth and Salvage Co. in the studio

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truthandSalvageCotitleThe coolest band in my world.  I’ve heard some of the new records’ songs on a demo.  Great hang backstage at the Avett Brothers show in Indy.  Always good dudes.  And they rock like I want a band to rock, with some country, some gospel and some Memphis soul.
Check out this video.  Best part?  As they are listening  to Joe South’s original take on “Games People Play” – great tune.
truthsalvage5610
I saw Mellencamp do a Joe South medley for his encore at Cobo Arena in Detroit during the Scarecrow tour.  It killed.  Georgia Satellites did decent cover on 1989’s Land of Salvation and Sin album.
Oh, and at the 1:55 mark, the camera goes 90 degrees sideways, and we hear people singing “for he’s a jolly good fellow” and see a dog barking.  Surreal and kinda beautiful.

http://youtu.be/ejIS2bf0ETs

Interview from NPR / Dave Grohl: The legendary Sound City soundboard story

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sound_city-2Mildly obsessed.  That’s my self-diagnosis regarding Dave Grohl’s new Sound City documentary.  I think the idea of a ratty rock studio and a magical sound board is highly addictive.  Team it with a tour, promoting the premiere of the movie with a band called The Sound City Players – essentially the Foo Fighters, with rotating cast of Rick Springfield, John Fogerty, Rick Nielsen and Stevie Nicks.  I’m hooked. Cool, fun, loud little clips on YouTube.  Check them out.  And here’s a story from NPR about the legendary sound board in the Sound City control room. The board (that Grohl believes has soulful and magical powers) that recorded Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours,  and Nirvana’s Nevermind, for goodness sake.  Grohl now owns it, moving it from the original home to his house.
From NPR.com
It wasn’t much to look at: a nondescript building in the San Fernando Valley with hideous brown shag carpeting on the walls. But from the 1970s on, the Sound City recording studio turned out a ridiculous amount of great music: classic recordings by Fleetwood Mac, Neil Young, Tom Petty, Metallica, Rage Against the Machine and many others.
Dave Grohl and his bandmates in Nirvana were practically unknown in 1991 when they pulled up to Sound City in a rusted white van. But the album that came out of that session, Nevermind, turned rock music on its head.
In his new documentary and accompanying soundtrack, Sound City: Real to Reel, the Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters founder pays homage to that studio — and its distinctive soundboard.
FULL NPR STORY
http://youtu.be/nv4HNp7pzLQ

VIDEO: The Cars – "Bye Bye Love " (Live)

by

Power-pop brilliance.  The Cars excelled with smoldering, dark “Moving in Stereo”- type songs, and with killer chorus, blueprint-for-New Wave pop candy.  I love that this is live,  and really, really good, in a not-so-perfect way.  Harmonies.  The late Benjamin Orr on bass reminding that Ric Ocasek wasn’t he only lead singer. Great 8-bar solo’s from Elliott Easton on the guitar.  The Cars were best loved on record, and I have never talked to anyone who loved their shows in the 80’s.  But back in the late 1970’s, after the debut album, they were still nicely raw.